FOXBOROUGH, MA. (April 22, 2023) - New York Red Bulls II (2-1-2, 9 pts.) traveled up to Foxborough to face New England Revolution II (3-2-0, 9 pts.) and won their second consecutive match by a score of 1-0.
To start the match, both teams traded chances in what was a very fast paced game for the first ten minutes. New England ended up having more high-quality chances in the first half, but goalkeeper AJ Marcucci put on a phenomenal performance in net to made sure the Revs did not get on the scoresheet.
The highlight of the night for Marcucci occurred in the 20th minute, when New England drew a penalty at the edge of the box. Brandonn Bueno stepped up to take the penalty, but his shot was not enough to get past the diving Marcucci, who guessed correctly. The keeper is now 4-6 saving penalties in his professional career with a 66% save rate.
An Amos Shapiro-Thompson rocket from over 25 yards out that just missed the net and other quality chances for New York weren’t enough to take the lead, so the teams went into halftime scoreless.
More of the same continued for the opposing squads in the beginning of the second half, chances without any goals to show for it. However, that was going to change in the 75th minute when Ibrahim Kasule drew a penalty right in the middle of the box to give New York their best chance of the match.
Oladayo Thomas stepped up to take the penalty in an attempt to try and score his first professional goal at a pivotal moment in the match. The Santa Clara alum gathered himself and placed the shot in the bottom left corner with pace to make it past the outstretched hand of the Revs’ keeper, giving New York the lead. Coming off last week’s match where Thomas notched his first professional assist, he gets his goal just five days later.
From then on, the defense continued to hold New England to minimal chances knowing that they were fifteen minutes from leaving Massachusetts with three points. The defensive line of O’Vonte Mullings, Jayden Reid, Curtis Ofori, and newly signed Juan Gutierrez put in a great shift to do their part in keeping the shutout.
Going into the match, New York knew that they needed a strong defensive performance in order to stop this Revs II team with a +5 goal differential. Led by goalkeeper AJ Marcucci, the defense proved to be up for the task to maintain the clean sheet for the second straight week. Marcucci totaled six saves on the match, multiple of which were from close range, but none good enough to make it past the keeper.
Red Bulls II now sit at fourth in the Eastern Conference standings with nine points in five matches. New York will look to continue their current form next week against Chicago Fire FC II at SeatGeek Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:00 with coverage on MLSNEXTPro.com.
